How'd you call these degrees?

[Offroad]

Please teachers, could you give me some explanation on this:

I'd like to know how you guys call a person who are on these following education degrees:

1) Whether one just finished the high school.
(something like high school student?)

2) Whether one are doing some course at the college.
universitarian? anything similar? are there synonyms?
could one say... I am doing Mathematics
I am (under)graduating Physics?
I am majoring Chemical Engineering?
I am a bachelor?

3) Whether one has finished the college.
So, how'd you call a (post-)graduation course? Master(ing)?
I am mastering Chemical Engineering.
I am doing a master course in Chemical Engineering.
I am a master student?

4) As for the doctorat degree?
I am doing a doc course in Control Engineering.
I'll be a doctor in Control Engineering.
I am taking a doctorat course in Plant Engineering.
I am a doctor?

4) Finally, whether after 11 years at study :shock: one decides to face a PhD degree. This means 2 or 3 years more at books and theories.
I am doing a PhD course on Thermal Engineering.
I am having/taking a PhD course in Process Engineering.
I am a doctor?

____________
This thread is really extent.
Thank you a thousand.

 

[BobK]

There are big differences between British English and American English here, so be careful! ;-) (For example, in Br English, you don't "graduate" from school; and "school" usually refers to where children go - although a university may well have 'a School of Humanities'.) This post will refer to British English.

1 'He's left school'. If he didn't do what American English would call 'graduating', you'd say 'He left school without qualifications'.

2 'I'm at college'; if you want to be more specific 'I'm studying/doing Chemical Engineering'. Nowadays (for the last 10-15 years), people have been saying 'I'm going to uni' (adopting an Australian English abbreviation [at least, I think that's where it came from], as a result of Australian-made soap operas - which are affecting not only words but also intonation]; or 'I'm at <place-name>'.

3 'I'm a graduate'; 'I have a [first] degree' ('a degree' is assumed, without an obvious post-graduate context, to be a first degree - e.g. B.A. or B.Sc.)

[none of your numbers]
3a 'I'm doing a Master's/M.A./M.Sc./M.Phil...' - This is a one or 2-year course (typically). Some establishments provide other post-graduate diplomas - often called 'a Post-Graduate Diploma' (for example, the Open University gives masters courses, but people who do only the first part - probably a large number of years of part-time study) get such a diploma.

4 'I'm doing a doctorate'.

4 [Your second one!] I don't know what sort of degree you mean; perhaps you made a cut/paste mistake. But if you're doing ''post-doctoral work' you'd call it that (or some other noun, as applicable - maybe a 'post-doctoral course'. Often, people doing post-doctoral work are called 'research assistants'; of course, that's a generic term, and anyone helping with research may be called a 'research assistant'. But research assistants are often doing post-doctoral work. Adverts at jobs.ac.uk, for example, often advertise for paid positions - 'Research Assistants' - that specify a doctorate as a job-requirement.

I hope that's not too much information; it cuts several corners already (often specific to one or a few universities - e.g. most universities have a PhD, but the equivalent degree at Oxford is called a D.Phil).

b

 

[Offroad]

Many thanks Bob.

Seems it is different from other countries, I mean, South America. North America and Europe have some in common.

Your post's helped a lot, thanks.